What Is a Legacy Volume on QNAP?
When you use QNAP with the QTS operating system, you may encounter the term legacy volume. Simply put, a legacy volume is a volume created on older versions of QTS (QTS 3.x or earlier), or a volume that was “carried over” when the system was updated to QTS 4.0 or later. Legacy Volumes
Characteristics & Limitations
- This volume can still be used to store data, but its behavior is not the same as “new” volumes such as static, thick, or thin volumes.
- One major limitation: does not support snapshot features, so you cannot take advantage of one of the key features of modern QTS.
- Because of its “legacy” status, this volume may not be consistent with the latest Storage & Snapshots features.
What Is Recommended?
If your system still has legacy volumes, QNAP itself recommends that you:
- Back up all data from the legacy volume.
- Create a new volume — either static, thick, or thin — according to your needs.
- Restore the data to the new volume. This way, you can benefit from modern Storage & Snapshots features.
Why Should You Consider Replacing It?
- To be able to use snapshot features and other modern features.
- For long-term stability and compatibility with future QTS versions.
- Because there are certain limitations on legacy volumes (for example, performance or features that cannot be enabled).
- Many users report issues when trying to migrate or upgrade the system due to the use of legacy volumes. For example: volumes become inaccessible or “disappear” after a firmware update.
Practical Tips from Users & the Community
- Some users report that legacy volumes appear when they move disks from an old NAS to a new NAS — the system detects them as legacy.
- There are also cases where volumes “disappear” or cannot be accessed after a firmware upgrade, even though the data still physically exists on the disk.
- For cross-NAS backup cases (for example, with HBS3), legacy volumes are sometimes not detected as a target — so one solution is to remove the legacy volume, create a new storage pool/volume, then copy the data there. (click here to learn more)